When Racism Isn't Racism

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that New Haven, Connecticut acted illegally by throwing out a test for the promotion of firefighters because no Blacks, and only two Hispanics, had passed the test and could expect a possibility of promotion, The New York Times, and a number of liberal talkers, proclaimed that the Supreme Court had "dealt a blow to diversity in the American workplace." The Times, specifically, in an editorial today, indicated that the SCOTUS decision placed a "narrower definition" on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which was designed to root out discrimination in the workplace.

Concerns were raised in New Haven because with so few minorities passing, the city was worried that they would be sued for having an illegal examination that somehow made it more difficult for minorities to pass it. The tests have been written with the intention of not having any race-based bias, specifically because of the tendency of society to look for such disparity. The only evidence that the tests may be race-biased is the fact that the minority test-takers had less success in passing the test. If the tests were somehow flawed, the fault did not lie with the test-takers.

The Supreme Court ruling reverses the ruling of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which included Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor who has exhibited a racial bias against Whites in a speech she delivered at the University of California at Berkeley in 2001.

In the end, the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States says with extreme clarity, and in the simplest terms, that racism is racism, regardless of who it is against.

The New York Times, and other organizations in the liberally-biased mainstream media, don't see it that way. Diversity, at the expense of doing what is right, including committing racism against Whites, is more important in their eyes. Diversity, in my opinon, is simply another word for racism. The idea of diversity places Americans into racial groups, rather than allowing folks to be judged by the strength of their character, as Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned. Hirings should not be determined by whether or not there are enough members of a particular race in the organization. Promotions should not be determined by whether or not enough minorities have been promoted. In the end, it has to come down to who is the best person for the job, regardless of race.

Had the results of the test been that the majority of the folks that passed were Blacks and Hispanics, and only a couple Whites pulled off a passing score, the issue of whether or not the test was fair, or that the city was possibly being biased, would never have been considered, and the racial disperity against Whites would have been celebrated, rather than condemned.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Firefighters and Race - The New York Times